I grew up in Jersey City and Union City. When I got my first car (a crappy Chevy Monza), I drove between Newark and Jersey City multiple times. I don't remember a town between the two, but I moved to Los Angeles in 1976 and never went back, so things probably changed a lot in the ensuing 44 years. Maybe a town grew up between JC and Newark?
Harrison Avenue/Newark Turnpike runs out of Newark east across the Bridge Street Bridge into Harrison, then passes through Kearny as it enters the Meadowlands (the Kearny Wal-Mart is there - definitely wasn’t there in 1976). It continues on across the Hackensack River to exit 15W on the NJ Turnpike (which is also the eastern end of Route 280, still in Kearny), to Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City, where it meets Routes 1 & 9.
South of that, Routes 1 & 9 runs southwest from Jersey City through south Kearny (the “port”, an industrial area) to Ironbound Newark. I believe the ONLY way to travel directly from Newark to Jersey City without passing through Kearny is on Route 78 even further south. Both Kearny and Harrison were settled before 1776, never mind 1976.